Toshiba is looking to make a splash this year with some exciting (pardon the pun) tablets. After last year’s Thrive series, they can only go up. This years offerings offer higher quality aluminum construction with some beefier specs like the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. All 3 tabs also include a 5MP rear camera, a 2MP front camera, and Ice Cream Sandwich. For more detailed specs on each tab, checkout out announcement post. Toshiba brought all three to CTIA to show off, and so far I’m really impressed at what I saw. The Excite 10 is already available now and the Excite 7.7 and Excite 13 (pictured above) will be available in June. Hit the break to see all three in action.

I stopped by the ZTE booth today at CTIA and had a chance to play with the PF112 and Era. Both of these phones were announced at MWC and have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich onboard. They’re being shown here in the States for the first time at CTIA.

Unnecto isn’t well known here in the States, but they’re hoping to change things. Their claim to fame is unlocked dual SIM GSM phones. Their current Android offering is the Drone, which is a quadband 2G phone. They are going to launch the Quattro in the next couple of months, which will be their first Android 3G phone. It features a 4-inch (800 x 480) LCD display, 650 Mhz processor, and a 5MP rear camera, and Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It will be compatible with AT&T and will be available from sites like Amazon and Newegg. It should come in less than $200, which isn’t bad for a no contract fully unlocked phone. Hit the break for a quick hands on look at the Quattro from CTIA.

Last month the Lava Xolo X900 (pictured above) debuted, which was the very first Intel-based smartphone. For now it’s only available in India. Next up is the Orange Santa Clara, which will debut in the UK and France sometime in quarter 2. Intel is showing both of these off at CTIA this week. They are both very similar devices and are running Android Gingerbread. The Orange has more UI enhancements including a very cool IM360 app that allows you to film at 360 degrees.

I spent some time with 10n2 Technologies here at CTIA, and they have a couple of unique apps for smartphone driver safety. Both apps are actually the same. BIZ protect is for the enterprise and is available now while One Connect is for consumers and is coming soon. What they do is prevent texting, emailing, and browsing (or other apps) of smartphones while driving. It uses the GPS to tell if you’re over the 12 mph threshold. If you are, you will be prompted to answer whether you’re a driver or a passenger. Of course, if you’re the driver, you won’t be able to use any of the apps set by the administrator. Now if you’re thinking that you could just reply that you’re the passenger, that won’t work. There’s a special Attention Verification Test (AVT) that you will have to go through to prove you are indeed a passenger. It’s pretty slick. It even gives the admin the option to prevent phone calls while driving unless you’re connected to Bluetooth.

Plum is looking to make a splash in 2012. They’re mostly known in Latin America, but they are hoping to branch out into other parts of the world. They have a pretty big presence at CTIA this year and four new Android devices to show us. For smartphones, they have the Orbit, Capacity, and the Mighty. I seriously through the Mighty was a Samsung Galaxy Note. I went so far as to ask them if Samsung made the phone for them, and they replied with a no. They had one tablet called the Debut, which has a 7-inch (800 x 480) display. Unfortunately they’re all running Gingerbread, even the Debut tablet. Still, these are budget devices that will satisfy those that aren’t looking for high end. Hit the break for a quick look at all 4 devices.

I had a chance to see Life360 Family Locator in action today at CTIA. If you have kids, you’re going to want to pay attention because Life360 is all about family security. Over 15 million people have located family members with this app, viewed safety points & threats in their neighborhood, and chatted on their group messenger called FamilyChannel. Life360 Family Locator allows you to know where your family members are located, what safety points and threats are nearby, and if someone needs help or is safe (through the FamilyChannel).

If you’re still not convinced, Life360 Family Locator has been instrumental in reconnecting families after major emergencies such as the Japanese tsunami in March 2011 and the devastating floods and tornadoes that hit the United States in May 2011.

Hit the break for a quick hands on, what Life360 has in the pipeline, and download links.

Kyocera just announced the Rise and the Hydro, which are two entry-level Android smartphones. The Rise is a QWERTY slider (pictured above) with a 3.5-inch display and the Hydro (pictured below) is a waterproof offering with the same display. Both have Ice Cream Sandwich onboard and probably won’t be available till the second half of the year. We don’t have pricing yet, but expect them to be sub $100 for contracts. For more information, checkout our previous post or hit the break for a quick hands on.

Verizon and HTC kicked CTIA off with the official announcement of the DROID Incredible 4G LTE, the 3rd Incredible since its original launch in 2010. It’s similar to the HTC One S, but unfortunately it doesn’t come with the ImageSense chip that you will find on the AT&T One X, T-Mobile HTC One S, and Sprint EVO 4G LTE. There are some pluses however, they’ve included a removable battery (1700 mAh) and a micro SD slot for up to an additional 32GB of storage. However, with that comes a little extra bulk.

HTC is going all the way with their booth this year as they’re really pushing the One line. In the video (after the hands on) you can see a mini-show they have going on at the booth.

Joe’s my name and productivity is my game, so they say. All kidding aside though, Im always on the hunt for good and effective productivity applications for my Android device so when I come across one I like, I always feel compelled to share it with you guys. Latest to catch my eye is an app called TinyList, which is a basic and simple to do list packing a big punch in the feature department. Create a check list, to do list, grocery list or anything else you’d like to keep track of in seconds and then share it with whoever you want, whenever you want, however you want. The UI is intuitive while still promoting style and smooth navigation. Check out the quick demo below along with the screen shots of the app in action. The app will run you about 99¢ on the Google Play Store but that’s a small price to pay to make your life a little more organized. After all, you know what they say right? “Organization relieves stress”. So check it out via the QR code or Play Store link below and don’t forget to let us know what you think.

Gestures :

Single tap to check/uncheck item

Slide to the left to delete list/task

Slide to the right to edit list/task

Slide right/down to duplicate list/task

Touch and hold to move list/task

Pinch to go back

Pinch outwards to create an item in the middle of two items

Slide down from the top to create an item at the top

Tap on numbers to modify it using the built in number incrementer Read more